Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - Though in need of financial support to protect their environment, African countries are slow to ratify the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) from the utilisation of genetic resources, the continent’s environment experts meeting here were informed Monday. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - South Africa's Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane's announcement over the weekend, that the Cabinet has lifted the moratorium on the use of the controversial hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to explore for shale gas in the Karoo desert, has brought the issue back to the spotlight. Full text...

Arusha, Tanzania (PANA) - African countries need to continue working in harmony and understanding as they seek ways to tackle environmental challenges caused by climate change, according to experts attending the 14th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) here. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Several districts of the Senegalese capital, Dakar, are flooded after heavy rains lashed the city on Friday afternoon. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – The current model for investment in forests must be turned on its head in order to increase the incomes of many of the billion forest-dependent people worldwide, according to a new report released Friday at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s World Conservation Congress being held in Jeju, South Korea. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - The one billionth certified emission reduction (CER) credit, under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), will be issued Friday, marking an impressive milestone for the world’s leading greenhouse gas offset mechanism. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – An above-normal rainfall is expected to drench many parts of Tanzania between October and December 2012 with a possible outbreak of waterborne diseases, the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) cautioned in a forecast Thursday. Full text...

Durban, South Africa (PANA) - Greenpeace’s latest and most environmentally-friendly ship -- the Rainbow Warrior -- has opened its doors to the public in Durban, South Africa, as Greenpeace Africa looks back at the COP 17 summit in the East coast city. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Africa Group have urged countries around the world to fulfill their responsibility to address the climate change crisis. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mali's Prime minister, Cheick Modibo Diarra, on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for a 9.4 billion FCFA water pumping station in Kabala, south-western Bamako. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – The latest round of the UN climate change talks ended Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand, with some progress made but still with mixed feelings as to whether Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - A week-long informal climate talks in Bangkok, Thailand, ended Wednesday with concrete progress on key issues across all three negotiating groups that met, setting a firmer base for decisions that will be made at the UN Climate Change Conference this year, in Doha, Qatar. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - African ministers responsible for environment issues will hold their 14th conference 10-14 September 2012 in Arusha, Tanzania, to deliberate on, among other things, implementation of agreements reached at the UN Sustainable Development Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last June. Full text...

Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - Burundi has lost 75 hectares of land in the past 20 years to the combined effects of erosion, population pressure, poverty, climate change and mismanagement, PANA learned during a validation workshop of the national strategy of fight against environmental degradation. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Political leadership is more important than a city’s wealth when it comes to protecting the lives and economic assets of cities and towns from disasters, according to a new study of a major urban safety campaign launched by the UN two years ago. Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Experts of member countries of the Commission of Fight against Locusts (CLCPRO)-West Africa Chad and Maghreb started a three-day workshop on Monday in Nouakchott to develop a 3-month plan to contain the locust threat in the sub-region. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - To effectively tackle the release of chemicals into the marine, vegetations and underground through contaminated equipment-related facilities, the Nigerian government and the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) on Monday launched the Polychlorinated Biophenyl (PCBs) Management Project in Nigeria. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - The world’s leading green energy awards scheme is seeking entries for its 2013 Awards which will meet, or beat, the high standards of the current winner, an African social enterprise. Full text...

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) - The Birds of Prey Programme (EWT-BoPP) of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, its partners and associates including provincial conservation bodies and several other NGOs involved in vulture research and conservation in South Africa are preparing to mark this year's International Vulture Awareness Day. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - Africa's urban population is growing faster than that of any other region, but many of its cities are not keeping pace with the increasing demand for food that comes with that growth, reveals a new FAO publication. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) – Government representatives began a week-long meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday to prepare the agenda they will take to the next UN climate change conference in Doha, Qatar. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), a joint initiative of the Danish government and the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department (ONEC) of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has approved its first grant of US$825,000 to finance the concept phase of the Green Tech Financial Facility, according to an AfDB statement. Full text...

Luanda, Angola (PANA) - The Angolan and South Korean Ministries of Environment have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in environmental protection and conservation of natural resources. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday launched a new initiative to protect the oceans and the people whose livelihoods depend on them. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday launched a new independent global network of research centres, universities and technical institutions to help find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental, social and economic problems. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Managers of public water utilities in East African countries need to be professional and seek excellence for their clientele, since frequent breakdowns and shoddy workmanship on water supply systems retard the region’s development, according to an expert in this field. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The British government Tuesday pledged to help Kenya fully exploit its potential to generate renewable energy, which the East African nation intends to use as the main engine for its economic growth. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The investigation process initiated by Shell into the oil spill in restive Niger Delta of Nigeria was Friday dismissed as "a shame" by Amnesty International (AI) and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Environment Progarmme (UNEP) on Wednesday welcomed the decision by the Nigerian government to clean up a major oil contamination in Ogoniland region, in the south eastern part the country. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A new regional initiative will help 10 Central African countries to set up advanced national forest monitoring systems, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced in a news dispatch Thursday. Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - An earthquake, measuring of 5.8 on the Richter scale, Thursday struck off the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, specifically the small Island of Rodrigues, according to the meteorological services of Mauritius. Full text...

Rome, Italy (PANA) - A new regional initiative will help 10 Central African countries to set up advanced national forest monitoring systems, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced Thursday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has added 20 new sites to its global list of biosphere reserves, bringing the total to 599 in 117 countries. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), meeting in Paris from 9 to 13 July, has added 20 new sites, including two transboundaries, to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR). Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Gambian parliamentary Speaker Abdoulie Bojang has expressed concern over the level of deforestation in the West African nation. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and a non-governmental organisation have launched an emergency appeal to support the staff and rebuild the headquarters of a key wildlife reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which was recently attacked by poachers. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's economic capital city of Lagos, already soaked by incessant rainfall, is bracing up for a seven-day rain that will surely test the limits of the flood-prone city's drainage system. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Governments, the private sector, civil society and other groups Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A report published by the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) said that elephant poaching levels are the worst in a decade and recorded ivory seizures are at their highest levels since 1989, Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has hailed the agreement reached in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to strengthen the role of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the leading global environmental authority. Full text...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (PANA) - In a new joint report, 'Africa Ecological Footprint Report - Green Infrastructure for Africa’s Ecological Security,' the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) have called on world leaders to invest in Africa’s natural capital. Full text...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to sustainable development. Full text...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (PANA) - The focal point of the TerrAfrica programme at the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Agency, Mr. Ousmane Djibo, has said that about US$ 2 billion has been set aside to support the Great Green Wall project in the Sahel and West Africa regions, according to the Information and Communication Service (ICS) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The 196 UN member states have reached an agreement on the outcome document of the 20-22 June UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the conference's top official said in a statement on Wednesday. Full text...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (PANA) - Innovative sources of finance and resources from the private sector are key to achieving sustainable development in Africa, African leaders and world experts said Monday at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN and its partners have unveiled a new initiative Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A Kenyan local authority has stopped construction work, occupancy and business operations of ten major buildings at Mlolongo in the eastern fringes of Nairobi following the collapse of a building that was under construction on 9 June. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria will depart Abuja Tuesday to attend the United Nations’ Earth Summit (Rio 20), opening in Brazil on Wednesday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was due in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday evening to attend the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20) where he will push for the upgrading of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) office here. Full text...

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisia is to upgrade its national programme to rejuvenate its fight against desertification and lead integrated projects at the regional and national levels to develop land and reduce land degradation. Full text...